Pig Latin

For words that begin with consonant sounds, all letters before the initial vowel are placed at the end of the word sequence. Then, "ay" is added, as in the following examples:[2][3]

• "pig" = "igpay"
• "latin" = "atinlay"
• "banana" = "ananabay"
• "will" = "illway"
• "butler" = "utlerbay"
• "happy" = "appyhay"
• "duck" = "uckday"
• "me" = "emay"
• "bagel" = "agelbay"

When words begin with consonant clusters (multiple consonants that form one sound), the whole sound is added to the end when speaking or writing.[4]

• "smile" = "ilesmay"
• "string" = "ingstray"
• "stupid" = "upidstay"
• "glove" = "oveglay"
• "trash" = "ashtray"
• "floor"= "oorflay"
• "store"= "orestay"

For words that begin with vowel sounds, the vowel is left alone, and most commonly 'yay' is added to the end. But in different parts of the world, there are different 'dialects' of sorts. Some people may add 'way' or 'hay' or other endings. Examples are:

• "eat" = "eatyay" or "eatay"
• "omelet" = "omeletyay" or "omeletay"
• "are" = "areyay" or "areay"
• "egg" = "eggyay" or "eggay"
• "explain" = "explainyay"
• "always" = "alwaysyay" or "alwaysay"
• "ends" = "endsyay" or "endsay"
• "honest" = "honestyay"
• "I"= "Iyay"

An alternative convention for words beginning with vowel sounds, one removes the initial vowel(s) along with the first consonant or consonant cluster. This usually only works for words with more than one syllable and offers a variant of the words in keeping with the mysterious, unrecognizable sounds of the converted words. Examples are:

• "every" = "eryevay"
• "another" = "otheranay"
• "under" = "erunday"
• "island" = "andislay"
• "elegant" = "egantelay"

Sentence structure remains the same as it would in English. Pronunciation of some words may be a little difficult for beginners, but people can easily understand Pig Latin with practice.

One of the oldest examples of Pig Latin was written by William Shakespeare, whose 1598 play, Love's Labour's Lost, includes a reference to dog Latin:[5]

Costard: Go to; thou hast it ad dungill, at the fingers' ends, as they say.
Holofernes: O, I smell false Latine; dunghill for unguem.

— Love's Labour's Lost, William Shakespeare

The modern version of Pig Latin appears in a 1919 Columbia Records album containing what sounds like the modern variation, by a singer named Arthur Fields. The song, called Pig Latin Love, is followed by the subtitle "I-Yay Ove-Lay oo-yay earie-day".[6] The Three Stooges used it on multiple occasions, most notably Tassels in the Air, a 1938 short where Moe Howard attempts to teach Curley Howard how to use it, thereby conveying the rules to the audience. In an earlier (1934) episode, Three Little Pigskins, Larry Fine attempts to impress a woman with his skill in Pig Latin, but it turns out that she knows it, too. No explanation of the rules is given. A few months prior in 1934, in the Our Gang short film Washee Ironee, Spanky tries to speak to an Asian boy by using Pig Latin.[7] Ginger Rogers sang a verse of "We're in the Money" in Pig Latin in an elaborate Busby Berkeley production number in the film Gold Diggers of 1933, (Trippy Ginger Rogers Pig Latin. YouTube). The film, the third highest grossing of that year, was inducted into the National Film Registry and that song included in the all-time top 100 movie songs by the American Film Institute. Merle Travis ends his song "When My Baby Double Talks To Me" with the phrase, "What a aybybay", where the last word is Pig Latin for "baby".

Two Pig Latin words that have entered into mainstream American English are "ixnay" or "icksnay", the Pig Latin version of "nix" (itself a borrowing of German nichts[8]), which is used as a general negative; and "amscray", Pig Latin for "scram", meaning "go away" or "get out of here".[9][10][11][12]

French has the loucherbem (or louchébem, or largonji[13]) coded language, which supposedly was originally used by butchers (boucher in French).[14] In loucherbem, the leading consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word (as in Pig Latin) and replaced by an L, and then a suffix is added at the end of the word (-oche, -em, -oque, etc., depending on the word). Example: combien (how much) = lombienquès. Similar coded languages are verlan and langue de feu (see fr:Javanais (argot)). A few louchébem words have become usual French words: fou (crazy) = loufoque, portefeuille (wallet) = larfeuille, en douce (on the quiet) = en loucedé. Also similar is the widely used French argot verlan, in which the syllables of words are transposed. Verlan is a French slang that is quite similar to English pig Latin. It is spoken by separating a word into syllables and reversing the syllables.

Verlan was first documented as being used as far back as the 19th century. Back in the 19th century it was spoken as code by criminals in effort to conceal illicit activities within conversations around other people, even the police. Currently, Verlan has been increasingly used in areas just outside major cities mainly populated by migrant workers. This language has served as a language bridge between many of these migrant workers from multiple countries and origins and has been so widely and readily used that it has spread into advertising, film scripts, French rap and hip-hop music, media, in some French dictionaries and in some cases, words that have been Verlanned have actually replaced their original words. The new uses of Verlan and how it has become incorporated into the French culture has all happened within just a few decades.[15]

Here is an example of some French words that have been Verlanned and their English meaning:[16]

Some verlan words have gone though a second round of such transformation. For instance reubeu is verlan for beur, which itself is verlan for Arabe.

Besides the uses noted above in American comedy films, Pig Latin can also be heard in the 1998 Hollywood film, Slums of Beverly Hills, accompanied by subtitles.

Pig Latin is also briefly heard in the science fiction horror television series Stranger Things, Season 3 (2019).

• The dictionary definition of :Category:English Pig Latin terms at Wiktionary